Shopify vs Square

Shopify and Square are user-friendly software that offers a good deal of e-commerce functionalities, inbuilt payment processing, and payment tools. 

Shopify can be a great choice if you want to focus on e-commerce business or online sales. Shopify is the best option if your main sales channel is brick-and-mortar and you require excellent online store functionalities. 

This post discusses the Shopify vs Square comparison depending on their features so you can make the right choice.

Shopify

Lake and Lutke together founded Shopify to ease e-commerce. This cloud-based software is an all-inclusive solution that allows sellers to launch, run and grow their online businesses across digital and physical channels. 

Shopify offers merchant services such as discounted shipping, financing, and payment processing to make online shopping more accessible for customers. Now, Shopify has turned out to be one of the most popular retail operating systems for 1.7 million merchants across the world.

Shopify’s market opportunity is at $153 billion but that figure doesn’t relate to big large enterprises with over 500 employees. Shopify Plus, a customizable eCommerce platform, is designed for enterprise clients which increases the company’s true market opportunity. 

Shopify seems to be gaining popularity and it presently supports more than 10000 online businesses in PepsiCo, Nestle, General Electric, and Fortune500. If Shopify keeps on growing popular, it can be a trillion-dollar business by 2030. 

Square

Square came into existence by solving an issue. In 2009, Jim McKelvey and Jack Dorsey together founded mobile card reader, a mini single that enables merchants to use smartphones as POS systems and payment processing devices. 

Since its inception, Square business has widened into two main segments – the Cash App ecosystem and the seller system. Both the systems have evolved as digital payment systems and grew the popularity of e-commerce. 

Square seller ecosystem comprises a variety of software, hardware, and services that help merchants handle all business aspects from marketing to payroll to inventory and payment processing. They recently introduced Square Online that allows merchants to build online stores which automatically sync with physical retail places. 

The Cash App ecosystem which targets customers allows users to send and spend money. Square merged bitcoin into the Cash App in 2018 that boosts customer engagement. The company recently introduced Credit Karma Tax that adds a mobile-first-tax-filing solution to the Cash App. 

Square has delivered commendable financial results recently. Investors need to note that low-margin bitcoin sales affect revenue figures. So, you should prioritize gross profit. 

The Square market opportunity is at $160 billion that leaves room for future online business growth. Square recently introduced its seller platform in Ireland which makes its services accessible in six locations – the US, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, and Ireland. With the evolution of e-commerce, the two Square ecosystems need to expand fast. 

Shopify vs Square – Which is the Best Option for Your Online Store

Shopify offers the perfect solution for many multichannel retailers. Square can be a great choice for startups and SMEs who have a low budget for online sales. 

Square offers industry-specific products while Shopify is designed only for retailers. The former offers solutions for food/beverage businesses, appointment-centric businesses, retail solutions, and all-inclusive POS. 

Square can be a better multi-channel solution for food and beverage businesses like food, cafes, trucks, and appointment businesses such as salons, spas, and beauty/health service providers.

So, choose the right platform suited to your online business requirements and industry.